A number of households in the villages in Odisha live in one-room or two-room kutcha houses, revealed a baseline survey report published by the Centre.

According to the survey, at least 41.9 per cent households live in one-room kutcha house in rural areas of the State. The percentage is only 3.5 in Kerala while it is 8.6 per cent in Jammu & Kashmir.

Around 47.8 per cent households live in two-room kutcha houses. The percentage is only 18 in Kerala. While 38 per cent, 27.6 per cent and 18.5 per cent households live in three-room, four-room and five or above-room houses, respectively, in Kerala, the percentages are only 14.2 (three-room), 5.2 (four-room) and 2.6 (five and above room-houses) in Odisha.

According to the 2011 Census, in Odisha, there were used 91,84,785 houses, out of which the numbers of houses in villages were 77,22,226 and in urban areas 14,64,559.

The number of houses in good condition was 27,94,395, out of which 28,33,289 had concrete roofs and 16,60,563 asbestos roofs. Of total houses, 42,00,272 houses had grass, wood, bamboo-made roofs while around 30 lakh had tile houses and over 50,000 had polythene roofs.

The census and the survey report clearly indicated a number of populations are deprived of living in houses of improved condition due to impoverishment and backwardness.

The situation is worse in case of tribal and socially-backward populations. Meanwhile, the State Government has launched a special progarmme to convert all the kutcha houses into pucca houses.